When to call a game?

S

sweeperkeeper

SILVER
Hello all.... An interesting situation happened a few weeks ago that got a few of us parents fired up and hope for some input.

First to set the stage... Our team is not doing very well (Boys U12). About half of the team is playing up, we lost our goalie right before league play was about to start and we are getting crushed in most games (losing by at least 5).

We were scheduled to play the first place team and due to a string of fluke accidents we only have 9 start the game (that is all who showed up). Our coach asks the other coach if they want to play 9 v 9 to which he replies "Let's just see what is going to happen". Again, win-less team versus undefeated but i understand. We do "OK" for the first 10 minutes but then it starts to fall apart. They score 1 or 2 and then one of our better players gets hurt. So now we are playing 8v11. The goals keep coming and it is at least 8-0 at half time.

We start the second half and our kids are visibly done and then another injury with about 15 minutes left in the game. Now 7v11 and it is at least 15-0. The other team is starting to get really obnoxious (crawling to head it in once they beat our keeper) and their coach still hasn't done anything to try to help the situation.

Any thoughts on what could/should have been done? I would imagine that at some point the other coach could have done something to helped the situation. I understand the difference between competitive and rec but these are still kids and humiliating them does nothing.
 
A few thoughts. To ask an opposing team to "play down" in competitive soccer is not reasonable. They have aspirations, etc. and despite the whole "winning doesn't matter," it does. Clearly your team is playing in the wrong flight, but the top team shouldn't risk losing because of this.

Putting aside the rules/monetary penalties in some leagues in relation to forfeits, it may have been smarter for your coach to just say we don't have enough players than to beg for an equal rec-type game (which obviously still would have been a beating. They would have been bitter, as they would have only won 1-0. )

Once it got out of hand at half time (at 8-0, 8 v 11), as a coach I would have walked over and said to the opposing coach "Sorry, we just don't have 7 players that can continue, but your team has been a real class act...."

I know people are often scared to call out teams, but who is the club/coach of this class act?
 
I understand the difference in competitive soccer vs rec but what "aspirations" could they possibly have that I am missing? Under no circumstance were they going to lose that game even if we were at full strength as it was painfully clear by the standings and first few minutes into the game that our team was over matched. His team wasn't learning or getting better and in fact probably making them worse as they did suffer a few injuries in the second half.

I don't think anyone was asking for an "even" game but once the second half started I would think that they would have played 9v7 or something to at least make it somewhat interesting. As other threads have mentioned, this isn't the World Cup and none of the kids on either team are going to play in college or ODP so I am not sure what is to gain by laying into a team that is obviously never going to win.

If the roles were reversed as a parent, I would have walked up to the coach and asked him to pull some kids (even if it was my own).

It was Albion, coach Luke Staats.

Edit:
Can you elaborate on what the fines look like? What if you start the game and forfeit? This was the topic between the parents some had the mentality " We never quit" while others (including me) said that the game should have been called once we got down to 7 people.
 
sweeperkeeper said:
I understand the difference in competitive soccer vs rec but what "aspirations" could they possibly have that I am missing? Under no circumstance were they going to lose that game even if we were at full strength as it was painfully clear by the standings and first few minutes into the game that our team was over matched. His team wasn't learning or getting better and in fact probably making them worse as they did suffer a few injuries in the second half.

I don't think anyone was asking for an "even" game but once the second half started I would think that they would have played 9v7 or something to at least make it somewhat interesting. As other threads have mentioned, this isn't the World Cup and none of the kids on either team are going to play in college or ODP so I am not sure what is to gain by laying into a team that is obviously never going to win.

If the roles were reversed as a parent, I would have walked up to the coach and asked him to pull some kids (even if it was my own).

It was Albion, coach Luke Staats.

Edit:
Can you elaborate on what the fines look like? What if you start the game and forfeit? This was the topic between the parents some had the mentality " We never quit" while others (including me) said that the game should have been called once we got down to 7 people.
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Are you SDSC Branca?
 
I have no horse in this race, but have been in similar situation as a coach. Few years back our B17 team had to go Bakersfield to play one of the top teams. With many school events, we would only have 9 players for that game. Considering this and the fact that the trip would take us 4 hours drive one way, I called the League and the other coach and we forfeited. I think the penalty was $150, but don't take my word for it.
 
Ok, a little perspective here, and a modification of my original response now that the true facts are revealed. This was not an anomaly, and likely had nothing to do with your team being short, etc. Also, your team was never down 15-0 as the final score was 12-1.

Your team plays in AA-C, the lowest bracket possible. It has lost 7-0, 9-0, 11-0, 2-1, 7-0, 10-0, 12-1, and 10-0 (68 goals allowed). The fact that the score against this first place team was 12-1 (you scored a goal!) appears to be a blessing. Blaming this particular coach and calling him out by name is unfair, and knowing the true facts I should not have asked (although it helped reveal the facts). Your team does not belong in a competitive league. They should be playing in rec. (Not sure if kids are playing up since the age switch, but it is a poor choice by club and coach.)

Frankly, I think it's unfair to play in a competitive league and then expect all of your opponents to play something other than soccer every time they play your team.
 
It looks like this team has been beat by 10 points in most games. So singling out one specific team is not fair. AA-C is the lowest flight in Presidio, so I don't know where else they would play. SDSC has 6 2005 teams in Presidio and 1 in SCDSL, maybe that is too many teams. There is a point you have to ask the club, or at least wonder, if they are just fielding a team for the money. I have always said that club soccer is an expensive way to just have fun playing soccer.
 
NumberTen said:
It looks like this team has been beat by 10 points in most games. So singling out one specific team is not fair. AA-C is the lowest flight in Presidio, so I don't know where else they would play. SDSC has 6 2005 teams in Presidio and 1 in SCDSL, maybe that is too many teams. There is a point you have to ask the club, or at least wonder, if they are just fielding a team for the money. I have always said that club soccer is an expensive way to just have fun playing soccer.
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I was a little late.
 
I was asked which team was and provided the name. While I might have lost count of the score, does it really matter if you are up 10,12,15? I also never said that getting crushed was not a result of skill, going into the game we all knew we were going to get crushed. The situation was amplified by us being down players. If we had 11 to start the game I wouldn't care but it was the fact that we were down players to a superior team and the coach decided that "let it play" was what was concerning.

In the original post, I mention that the team got hit with some weird situations. Losing our starting goalie (who actually trained as goalie) was a massive loss then one of the better mid fielders got concussed at the second game and was out for 6 weeks. Those 2 people make the games significantly more competitive.

The point of the post was to get a sense of how other coaches/player feel about teams getting destroyed and ever worse when they are down players. I randomly clicked on a few of the different flights and this situation is not uncommon.
 
sweeperkeeper said:
I was asked which team was and provided the name. While I might have lost count of the score, does it really matter if you are up 10,12,15? I also never said that getting crushed was not a result of skill, going into the game we all knew we were going to get crushed. The situation was amplified by us being down players. If we had 11 to start the game I wouldn't care but it was the fact that we were down players to a superior team and the coach decided that "let it play" was what was concerning.

In the original post, I mention that the team got hit with some weird situations. Losing our starting goalie (who actually trained as goalie) was a massive loss then one of the better mid fielders got concussed at the second game and was out for 6 weeks. Those 2 people make the games significantly more competitive.

The point of the post was to get a sense of how other coaches/player feel about teams getting destroyed and ever worse when they are down players. I randomly clicked on a few of the different flights and this situation is not uncommon.
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I am not condoning teams running up the score, but I have seen too many pure imbalances of talent, and its hard to control scoring. Also, some payers who never score, are often moved up and then they want to get a goal in. Its just the nature of the beast. Asking one team to play men down in competitive soccer is not reasonable in my opinion.

Why do you have half the kids playing up in age but only 12 on the roster? Clearly your Club should not have rostered a 2nd AA-C team that cannot remotely compete, and with such a small roster. When you only have 12 players, it is too thin a line on a week to week basis to have 11 ready to play. Also, at these lower tiers, one or two players can change the whole balance of power. This is why people advocate that AA-C is just recreation soccer with a fancy uniform and backpack.
 
Unfortunately, your parents got "played" not by the opposing team but by your club! Big business! Your club had a good model years ago but they have been swept up in this race
with a couple of local super clubs and have lost sight of their mission-other than make money.
Don't give up on the game, just the wanna-be mega clubs.
Try Poway Vaqueros, maybe a better fit, or AYSO Mira Mesa.
Good Luck
 
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